Scenes from a long weekend

Paul was off Monday and Tuesday so we soaked up lots of quality time with just the three of us.

Saturday was a busy day. We got up early and headed out for hair cuts for my boys. This was Gray's third hair cut but first one without my friend Meredith, who is on maternity leave, doing her magic. So we braved Great Clips and I was very pleasantly surprised. Gray sat on Daddy's lap and was such a good boy. He wasn't a fan of them getting close to his ears so there are a few places there that don't look great but otherwise it was a success.

This post hair cut balloon was enough to make Gray's whole weekend complete.

After the hair cuts and a few errands, I enjoyed a nice lunch out with some ladies from our Bible Fellowship class at church. I have come to really crave girl time/child free time since becoming a stay at home mom. I LOVE my job and my time with Gray but its healthy and needed to have a break too. Saturday afternoon we went to Gray's buddy Lucas' first birthday party. It was a winter ONEderland theme and so very cute-I wish I'd taken pictures at the party. My friend Abbie made the cakes and I'm certain she just keeps getting better with time; they were soooo cute and just as delicious!

Gray had the best time playing with all of Lucas' new toys and even got to help him open a few. He says it was the best two hours he's spent in a long time!

Sunday our sweet boy woke up with a really nasty cold so we stayed home from church. He did a lot of this...

Yes these are Christmas pjs and yes he will wear them until they don't fit anymore! ;)

...while Paul and I started the slow and long process of transforming our spare bedroom into Gray's big boy room. Since his room is so small, it can only serve as a nursery so we will be moving him to our third bedroom and keeping the nursery as is. The room isn't huge by any means but is so much bigger than his room now and I am so excited about it! We have to move a dresser that is in there back in our room and take our desk to be stored at my mom's. We don't sit at the desk much but use a ton of stuff that's in it regularly, so it will take a while to go through it and find places to keep it all. It's been interesting creating space in this 1400 square foot townhouse but amazing at the same time-God continues to show we have more than we need and things just keep working out for our family to grow while we are patiently (trying to be patient anyway) waiting to have a "real" house one day. We also have a twin bed in there that we thought would be Gray's and still might be, but Paul is really itching to build him a toddler bed and it would make for even more space in there so we'll see. I am excited for him to have space enough for some toys and to be able to play in his own room. We are going to go with an African animal theme in his room without it being too themey and not baby-ish at all so it can carry him through many years to come. His favorite things besides tractors are animals and we already have so much we can use for it. I want to get some canvases made from some pictures I took on safari while in Kenya several years ago. We will also need a small dresser and bookshelf but will look for those used or cheap over the next few months. Right now our plan is to work on clearing the room out and also the closet, which is completely full of Paul's clothes and other random stuff that needed a place to be stashed. We've got several months to make this happen but we want to enjoy it and not be rushed and also have Gray moved in there by the first of May so it doesn't seem new to him by the time baby brother arrives.

On Monday we ventured out a little to run some errands and get wood for the attic (Paul is laying more floor up there so we have more storage space). Lowe's happens to be one of Gray's most favorite places on earth. Just look at our little redneck boy in his hand-me-down Carhart overalls sitting on a John Deere.

It was a whopping 60 degrees here on Monday so we took advantage of the warm temps and sunshine and went on a very long stroll. I'm not sure who was happier to be outside for more than two seconds, Gray or Sophie!

Pardon the apple about to fall out of Gray's mouth as he laughs at Sophie.

Tuesday Gray woke up feeling worse so we called the doctor and after hearing his symptoms they wanted to check him out to make sure he didn't have RSV or anything of the sort. Turns out he had a really bad ear infection in one ear, which would explain all the fussiness and not eating well all weekend. He never pulled at his ear or gave us any indication it could be that so I'm glad we took him in. He is already feeling so much better.

As if one trip to the doctor wasn't enough, I had my monthly OB check up and ultrasound yesterday afternoon. We had planned on taking Gray knowing this would most likely be our last chance to see Walker before he makes his debut in just a little over four months. We were at the doctor for two hours because they were running behind and Gray could not have been any better behaved-thank God! He didn't pay much attention to the ultrasound but we got him a bear with Walker's heart beat in it and he was in love.



Everything checked out great with my appointment and they were able to get the images they needed of Walker's heart. So assuming everything stays normal and healthy, we won't be seeing him again until the first of June or whenever he decides to come. My belly was measuring right on track and I'd gained another four pounds, putting me at nine total. Honestly, I was thrilled it wasn't more (Christmas and Kenya did a number on my growing bump!) and most certainly would have been had I not gotten the stomach bug for five days right when we got home from Kenya. I'd blog about that but I know you don't want to hear about it and I sure don't want to re-live it!

Off to hopefully finish our Kenya post!


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Halfway there!

If Walker decides to come early like his brother did, we reached the halfway mark last week. But I'm not banking on that happening again. Either way, I'm excited to be 20-ish weeks away from meeting our sweet boy and cannot believe how fast this pregnancy is going. Let's see if I'm still saying that in another 10 weeks or so ;)

At 20 weeks, Walker is about 10 inches long from head to heel and weighs about 10 and a half ounces.

I started feeling him move right at 17 weeks, a week earlier than with Gray. I'd been expecting to feel him even sooner than that since I've heard you can so much earlier with the second one. Within minutes of us being on our first long flight to Kenya, not only was I certain that I was feeling him but Paul could even feel him when he put his hand on my belly. I bet if I'd had a chance to be still long enough before then I would have noticed some little movements. Feeling a baby move inside of you has to be one of the most amazing things in this whole world. And it is no less exciting for me the second time around. Since recognizing those little kicks on the airplane, I've felt him off and on every day since and I just love it so much. They are still faint enough that I feel them most when I am being still but have noticed a couple here and there at other times and it catches me off guard-in a good way of course!

At 20 weeks I am still feeling pretty good. I felt big for the first time last week and it is way too early to be feeling that way. I think a lot of it has to do with not exercising for three weeks and eating a ton of unhealthy food while we were in Kenya. And I don't need people to tell me "just wait" this go around....I remember far too well how humongous I got and I'm afraid working out or not, I'm going down the same big mama road. My doctor already mentioned something about me being short and how it makes you "look" bigger. Haha, it is what it is and at least I know I can get it off, even if it takes almost a year ;) Hitting the gym after three weeks off was pretty tough last week but that would be the case not pregnant. I still hope to work out 4-5 times a week for as long as I can, even if I have to modify what I'm doing. It is no doubt helping me feel better and I am hoping will help make for an easier labor too. Walker already seems to be carrying low, just like Gray was the whole time. I am praying this doesn't mean in another 8-10 weeks he'll be pressing on my bladder and sciatic nerve like his brother did. But I'm feeling good now and will enjoy each day that I do so in case the last couple months aren't so comfy. My belly definitely seems a little bigger at 20 weeks this time around than with Gray but until I'm at the waddling stage I reckon I might as well embrace it. Gray is really paying lots of attention to my growing belly and this morning when I walked in his room to get him, he pointed at it and laughed. What a way to be greeted first thing in the morning :) He loves to love on the baby and give him kisses, but it almost always has to be my bare belly, which I hate! We are working on that, especially since he likes to show other people how he loves on his brother. We are working on him saying Walker, but so far nothing sounds anywhere close to it. I just can't wait to see him as a big brother!

20 weeks with Gray/20 weeks with Walker

We have an doctor's appointment on Tuesday and will get another ultrasound since I was too early at our last one for them to get the information they need on the heart. I am so excited to see him again!

 

Surprise gender reveal

Paul and I have known since my appointment the day before Thanksgiving that we'd get to find out the gender of baby number two on Christmas Eve. Although it was going to be a little early (2 days shy of 17 weeks), they wanted to do an anatomy scan before we left for Kenya to make sure everything looked ok with the baby. We decided to keep it a secret and do something fun on Christmas to reveal the gender. I've been to several gender reveal parties and though they were super fun, something that big isn't really our thing but we liked the idea of surprising our immediate family. We also knew there was a slight chance it would be too early to determine the sex on the ultrasound so if that ended up being the case, our family wouldn't have to be disappointed.

Just a minute or two into the ultrasound, baby number two confirmed our suspensions of having a second boy. There was no denying it, just like with Gray. Although we've had a strong feeling we were having another boy for a while now, it was still so exciting to know for sure and be able to call the baby by name. More on that in a few...

My friend Ashley was keeping Gray for us so after the appointment we headed to a party store and stocked up on blue balloons. We wrapped them in a huge box and Gray opened it on Christmas Eve night. My family was shocked and Gray couldn't have been more excited about the balloons finding out he was going to have a brother.

 

Baby boy number two's name is Paul Walker, but will go by Walker. We've had this name picked out since before Gray was born and almost named him that but wanted to use Gray since it was a family name in case we didn't have another boy. Walker is not a family name, just one we have liked and talked about since right after we got married. We knew we wanted to use Paul but Walker Paul doesn't flow as well so there you have it. Of course we've heard some comments like "Haha, Walker Texas Ranger" and "don't you know there is an actor named Paul Walker?" and "did you know that the actor Paul Walker was recently killed in a car crash?", yada, yada, yada. Yes we know all about the actor Paul Walker and no our choosing that name has nothing to do with him or Walker Texas Ranger. Those names will be long forgotten sooner rather than later and we could pick the most common name there was and somebody would have something to say about it.

Anywho, it is sinking in more and more everyday that I'm going to be a mom to two boys and I have to say, I'm quite excited about it for so many reasons! Stepping on tractors and legos is a small sacrifice to pay. I'm excited about Gray and Walker having a brother, I'm excited thinking about them playing with their tractors together and down the road playing sports together. I'm especially excited that we won't have to buy anything (other than maybe a sippy cup or two) for this baby. Everything in the nursery will stay the same and Walker will even be able to wear all the same clothes since they will both have June birthdays. I won't be doing it often, especially since there is no need to buy more clothes, but I am excited about dressing my boys alike every now and then too.

Everything checked out great at our anatomy scan and we are so thankful to God! All of Walker's body parts and systems were counted for and healthy, though they can't get the information they need on the heart until 18 weeks or later so we don't know about that yet. My iron levels are up so I guess the shortness of breath is just pregnancy related. I'd gained a few more pounds, putting me at 6 total, which is one more than I'd gained with Gray by that time. No doubt the Christmas goodies were to blame for that! And I don't even want to think about how many pounds I gained in Kenya-there is nothing healthy to eat other than fruit and all of the other foods are carbs and starches. I have two weeks to eat healthier and get back to working out before my next doctor's appointment. I went to the Y today for the first time in three weeks and thankfully it wasn't as bad as I anticipated.

I am 19 weeks today and we go back to the doctor on the 21st. We'll get another ultrasound since I wasn't far enough along for them to get the info they needed on his heart. I am so excited about seeing him again! We never got to see Gray after 18 weeks and this will be my last one with Walker, assuming everything stays healthy and normal with the pregnancy.

Kenya post hopefully coming soon!

16 weeks

I'm happy to be in my second trimester and this pregnancy is flying by so far. Some days I honestly forget I'm pregnant because a certain little boy keeps me very busy. I am no doubt just as excited about this baby but the pregnancy is so much different in that I can't be as focused on it like the first. I decided I'd do a little update until I post about our anatomy scan and gender reveal in January. Most of the baby's major body parts and systems have already developed by now. Baby Hicks weighs about three and a half ounces and is over four and a half inches long.

Feeling-Pretty good, other than still having shortness of breath. I am hoping once my iron levels increase I will feel even better-I've been on an iron supplement for almost two weeks now. I am still working out about 4-5 days a week and other than the shortness of breath, exercising is still going fine and is relatively easy. I am having pretty bad headaches, sometimes daily and more than once a day. I didn't experience this with Gray until later in pregnancy. I am not one to be weird about medicine, except when I'm pregnant but I don't usually take something unless I feel like I absolutely have to. I am not napping anymore but can't stay awake much past 9:00 most nights. I'm already up at least twice during the night to use the bathroom and some nights have trouble getting back to sleep. God sure has a way of preparing us for sleepless nights ahead!

Can't get enough-Fruit and carbs. I could eat an entire pineapple in one sitting and I find myself day dreaming of steak and cheese sandwiches from Hero House. I remember writing this when I was pregnant with Gray but I am not much of a deli meat sandwich fan at all, except for when I'm pregnant apparently. And I don't want it warm, which is how you are supposed to eat it when pregnant. I feel like I'd give almost anything for a Beach Club from Jimmy John's, which happened to be the very first thing I ate after Gray was born. And drink. I am so thirsty and I want anything to drink except water (normally other than a cup of coffee I don't drink anything other than water). I'm still not drinking caffeine unless I take a sip or two of Paul's sweet tea or coke.

Movement-Nothing yet in the way of kicks but several times now in the morning when I first wake up, I have felt a very hard little something bulging out of my lower stomach. It's about the size of what the baby should be now and goes away within 30 seconds or so. I guess that has to be the baby, right? I didn't feel anything like that with Gray but I don't know what else it could be. The other morning I woke Paul up to feel it and he couldn't believe it. I can't wait to start feeling those little flutters in the next month or so. I felt Gray for the first time at 18 weeks.

The belly-No mistaking there's a baby in there. When I saw my friend Lindsey a couple weeks ago after not seeing her for several days she said, "Wow, he's grown!" (she's certain we're having another boy too). He/she has certainly grown, but some of that is no doubt turkey and pumpkin pie leftover from Thanksgiving, along with lots of holiday junk food. By this time with Gray I'd only gained 5 pounds but I have a feeling it will be a little more than that when I weigh on Tuesday. I'm not sure if it's a blessing or not being pregnant during the holidays but I'm sure loving these maternity pants when I get full ;)


11 weeks/16 weeks

Here I am at 16 weeks with Gray. There isn't a huge difference but my belly definitely feels bigger to me this time compared to 16 weeks the first time.

Paul and I still think we are having another boy and I think most of our friends and family feel the same way. I can't wait to find out and starting calling this sweet baby by name!

Major rewind: Gray's birth story (and the weeks prior)

It's funny to me that I am just now writing about this and Gray is now one and a half. For weeks after giving birth I had no desire to recall the events enough to write about them. Then we had a colicky baby and life was nuts for several months. And then I forgot. And then I got pregnant with baby number two and decided I'd better get this down before I forgot everything and/or the new baby was here making life even crazier. I can't imagine many of you would be interested in reading this but it's something I realized I never wrote about and is a must have for my own memory's sake.

Other than some minor complications causing me to be extremely uncomfortable the last 8 weeks or so, I'd had a healthy and easy pregnancy. At 36 weeks I started going to the doctor weekly. At my 37 week appointment my blood pressure was very high. So high in fact, that the nurse took it four times because she felt something couldn't be right. She even got another nurse to come in a take it. They immediately expected preeclampsia but no protein was showing up in my urine. They hooked me up to a fetal monitor to make sure everything was ok with Gray. They asked me if I could feel the contractions I was having, which I didn't even notice until I could see the monitor and concentrate on the feeling as the lines went up on the screen. Gray's heart rate was showing up normal and after a while I was sent home and they thought everything was ok. I was getting pretty swollen by then so they said the high BP could be a result of the extra fluid I was carrying around. I had to get a BP monitor and check it several times over the weekend to make sure it didn't get any higher. They didn't put me on bed rest but strongly advised for me to take it easy and lay on my left side as much as possible.

I went back the following Friday and my blood pressure was still very high. They wanted me to do a 24 hour urine test to double check for protein. The lady handed me a gallon size bucket as I was leaving and told me that every single time I went to the bathroom, I had to collect it in this bucket. I laughed at her and told her she'd better give me two then. I was going to the bathroom (no lie) every 20-30 minutes during the day and every 45 minutes at night. Gray was extremely low and was putting a lot of pressure on my bladder. So much that when the doctor checked me for dilation for the first time, she said she could feel his head and not to be surprised if I started peeing in my pants. Nice! Thank GOD I had been written out of work by this point (from the other minor complications mentioned earlier). So I headed home, not very excited that we wouldn't be able to go anywhere the next day (which was Saturday) since I'd have two bright orange gallon pee buckets with me.

I turned in the urine test Monday and still no protein, which we were so thankful about! I went back again on Thursday and although there didn't seem to be any signs of preeclampsia, the doctor was pretty concerned about my BP. He wanted to me to do another 24 urine test starting Sunday morning, turn it in Monday morning and come back Monday afternoon. If my BP was still high Monday afternoon regardless of the urine test results, he was going to schedule an induction, most likely for the following day, June 12th or possibly even that night. Since I was dilated a little, there was a procedure he could do that had a chance of helping me go into labor. I'll spare the details of that because I certainly won't forget it! He said if I had not gone into labor by Saturday morning, it didn't work and he would do it again Monday in hopes that I'd go into labor before having to be induced.

The procedure left me very uncomfortable for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Paul and I went out to eat before heading to the hospital for a breast feeding class we'd signed up for several weeks before. I couldn't even make it through the class because I was so uncomfortable and also very swollen by this point. We left early and I tried to get some good sleep that night (kind of hard when you're waking up to pee every 45 minutes). Saturday I was feeling a little better and we decided to get out as much as possible since I'd be being induced and we knew our time together was about to change drastically. I was so miserable though and you can imagine the stares I was getting by this point (in case you forgot, I was HUGE). We tried going to the mall to walk but I had to stop at every department store to pee which was more annoying than it was worth. We'd eaten a late breakfast and skipped lunch. We headed home about 4:00 and picked up East Coast Wings on the way home. I had a buffalo shrimp wrap. I remember not feeling quite right, especially by this time in the day. I kind of had a weird feeling but didn't even say anything to Paul because I didn't want to talk about it and get my hopes up that I might go into labor soon.

I woke up about 2:00 a.m. and something felt weird. I was wet. I thought, "dang it, I finally peed myself! I guess the doctor was right about that." But I really didn't think I would pee my pants in my sleep, especially since I'd just gotten up a little after 1:00 to pee! I went to the bathroom and was certain by that time that my water had broken. I woke Paul up and told him it was go time. I took my time packing my bag and getting ready, be pretty certain he wasn't just going to pop right out. Within about 30 minutes of my water breaking, I started having some pretty decent contractions. Not the kind that took my breath away yet, but very noticeable and about 5 minutes apart. By the time we got to the hospital (3:30 or so), I was having to stop talking or walking when a contraction would come. We lucked out and the labor and delivery floor was dead so within just a minute of them confirming that my water had broken, we were in a room. I was only 1.5 centimeters dilated, although my contractions were pretty intense by this point. We found out my favorite doctor, Dr. Scherer, was on call and would be delivering Gray.

I got up to take a walk around 4:00 or 5:00 ish but didn't make it very far because something started burning in my arm like nothing I had ever felt before. My potassium levels were low and they had me getting some through an IV. The regular IV fluids ran out so there was nothing to dilute the potassium. I am not even kidding when I say that was one of the most painful parts of my entire labor! I wanted to wait as long as possible before getting an epidural. We knew there was no need to call our family so early so we waited until about 7:30. I called my mom first, and then my Gram, who I almost missed because she was walking out of the door to go to church. I told them I was pretty certain we had a long time to go, but of course they were excited and headed over shortly. While we were waiting on them, I decided to go for another walk, thinking it wouldn't be long before I gave in to the epidural. My good friend Renna was down the hall in antepartum because she'd been in pre-term labor. It was going to be a long walk but I wanted to surprise her and tell her I was there to have our baby! I didn't make it far before I had to turn around because I couldn't take the pain anymore. I called for the juice and they were there within a few minutes. I really didn't think the epidural was bad at all and within minutes I felt NOTHING!!! It was glorious!

Shortly after that my mom, Gram and brother were there and Paul's parents were on the way. I was feeling great and pain free and enjoyed talking and hanging out with family. Pretty soon my doctor decided I wasn't making much progress (I'd been stuck at 4 or 5 centimeters for a while) and started me on Pitocin. It made my contractions even stronger but I didn't feel a thing. I can remember Paul looking at the monitor and cringing when he'd see the contraction start but I felt nothing. I was so hungry by this point but wasn't allowed to eat anything. We had not eaten since about 4:30 the day before so that shrimp wrap seemed like days ago. Paul was so sweet and refused to eat since I couldn't. But this big mama put her foot down and made him because if nothing else, I needed him to have strength so he could get me through labor! Paul's parents got there sometime after lunch and we continued hanging out and talking. I was finally progressing and around 5:00 I started feeling a lot of pressure. The kind that everyone had told me would feel like I was about to poop my pants. That was such an accurate description too, sorry if that's too much info but it is what it is. I was so uncomfortable that I asked everyone to go ahead and leave the room. I started pushing around 6:00. By this time the epidural was wearing off and even though the contractions weren't too bad, I could feel every square inch of our baby boy pushing his way through. It was the hardest physical thing I'd ever done in my life, not to mention I was beyond exhausted from being up since 2 a.m. and not sleeping much for weeks leading up to that. And did I mention that I was about to starve by this point?! It was so hard that I remember at times telling my doctor I couldn't do it anymore. She and Paul were so encouraging and after about an hour and a half, our sweet boy was out!

Those first moments were so amazing and made every second of the last almost 39 weeks worth it. I had never felt exhaustion like that before though. It wasn't long after that I was already thinking about food. My first post-partum meal was a Jimmy John's Beach Club and I felt better after I' finally eaten, which was about 10:00. The rest of the night was spent with our immediate family and our first miracle, Gray Christopher.

Right before we were supposed to be discharged on that Tuesday, I had some pretty scary complications from delivery. Again, I can skip these details because they aren't something I will ever forget and certainly nothing you'd want to read about. I ended up having to stay an extra night but we were thankful I was going to be ok. My BP was also very high-even higher than before labor and there was talk of me staying a FOURTH night! I promised the doctors that if I could just be left alone and go home that it would get better. It made going home on Wednesday even more sweet. But about an hour or two after being home I started not feeling very good. Of course we didn't get much sleep that night and by the next morning I was very sick. I'd gotten a shot the day we left the hospital to help with the complications I'd had so we called to see if I could have been having a reaction to the shot. They were pretty certain I'd picked up some 24 hour stomach bug in the hospital. I was so sick I remember barely being able to wake up to nurse Gray and poor Paul was doing everything by himself and worrying sick about me at the same time. I tried taking a shower thinking that would definitely make me feel better. But I came out with shampoo still in my hair because I was so close to passing out in the shower. Paul later admitted that he'd never seen anyone look like I did being that sick and he had been very scared. I almost missed Gray's first doctor's appointment but managed to crawl out of bed and get in the car as Paul was about to leave. I remember the pediatrician taking one look at me and saying, "Are you OK?!" Thankfully by the next morning I was a new person, healed from the stomach bug and starting to feel better from the issues I had in the hospital.

I think I'll wrap up here since I did a pretty good job blogging about our first days at home with Gray.

I'm so glad I'll have this to read back on one day and I'm sure Gray will too ;) I can't wait to see how my second labor compares to my first. Everyone has told me it's way faster and easier the second time around so I'm banking on that!

18 months

This time last year seems like just yesterday. Our boy was just learning to sit up by himself and now we've got a one and a half year old.  What in the world?! Gray had his 18 month well visit today and for the first time he really seemed to know where we were. He was weirded out from the second they asked him to sit on the scale. I'm not sure his measurements were the most accurate, but we'll take them! It's so hard for me to capture in detail everything about him these days, especially since I haven't had the time to blog more often, but I'm going to do my best to write about things I know I'll want to remember one day.

At 18 months...

Growth stats-Gray weighs approximately 25 pounds-57th%tile. Y'all-he wouldn't sit still on the scale so they made me weigh myself and then weigh while holding him. Thankfully I'm not super pregnant yet because it was already a little embarrassing.
Anywho, he was about 33.5 inches long, but the nurse said she thought he was maybe even a little taller (he wouldn't stay perfectly stretched out and kept rolling over to get back up), which puts him in the 85th %tile.
His head measurement is 19 inches-88th %tile.

He has busted out of his 18 month pajamas and even some regular 18 month clothes. He is so tall that a lot of his shirts look like he's rocking the three-quarter length style and some of his jeans look like capri pants. He is wearing size 5 shoes, size 4 regular diapers and size 5 overnights.

Milestones/Firsts/Accomplishments-He is working on some two year molars and they are giving him such a hard time. After these though, he'll be all done in the teeth department. Praise the Lord!! And then in about a year we'll get to start all the way over with teething ;) Dr. Bill said he could see them right under his gums today and expected they would be breaking through the skin anytime now.

It's so hard to think about "firsts" with Gray because he does or says something new every day. But one first/accomplishment that I can't forget to mention is that Gray now poops on command. Several weeks ago we'd been out and about all day and realized as we were about to put Gray in the bath that he hadn't pooped all day. He typically does this at home when he has a little privacy. We knew it could mean he'd be up either during the night or very early in the morning with a dirty diaper so Paul started saying, "Can you go poo poo buddy?" Sure enough, he went behind the washer and dryer doors and did his thing. It's hilarious how proud Daddy was and still is of this. Almost always if it's about to be nap time or bed time and we know he's due for a number two, we'll ask him to go and he will. We certainly aren't ready to start talking potty training yet, but if things stay as they are, he is showing signs of being ready to train earlier than most boys (I'll try not to get my hopes up for this one).

Language/Learning Development-A lot of Gray's expressive language still sounds like he's speaking his own language a majority of the time. He is saying new words a lot though and will almost always repeat things we say or ask him to say. His favorite things to say are "uh-oh" and "hey", which he says to us about 100 times a day (but it's sooooo cute!). He understands so much and I continue to be blown away at the receptive language skills that he has (I realize that I've said this for probably the last 5 posts, but it really does amaze me). He knows all of his body parts and loves to identify them on himself or someone else. His favorite these days is his belly button but also loves to find other people's too (not awkward at all). He is starting to clean up his toys and also has two chores around the house-he feeds Sophie and put dirty clothes in the hamper. He just randomly picked up some dirty clothes that were on the floor (I won't mention whose they belong too ;) and took them to the dirty clothes basket one day and was so proud of himself so now I let him take his dirty clothes to his basket. He's recently noticed the moon and loves to point this out because he sees it in so many of his books. He also notices airplanes and helicopters now and loves to imitate their noises.

We've been talking about the new baby to Gray and he certainly doesn't have a clue as to what's really going on or how his life will change in June, but when we ask him where the baby is he now runs to my belly and pulls my shirt up. The baby can only be found bare belly, apparently. This is not fun when we're out and he hears anything about the baby. A couple of weeks ago he decided to give the baby a kiss. You can imagine our response, in which he completely ate up and now he kisses the baby all the time. It is so sweet!

Eating habits-I am so happy to report that things are getting much better here. He decided he likes raw carrots and cucumbers, sometimes tomatoes, sometimes broccoli and if he's really hungry he will eat an assortment of cooked veggies. He is a great eater in that he is interested in eating often and eats a good amount when he does eat. We'll keep working on getting healthier things and a wider variety in his diet because for several reasons we don't want a picky eater. I read in a Christian book on parenting recently that picky eaters simply fall on the parents. The author also said he felt it was hypocritical for us to teach our children to bless the food and thank God for it, and then allow them to throw it on the floor or refuse it. I'm all about picking battles wisely, but it sure made me think about wanting to try to change how we parent Gray when it comes to eating.

Sleeping habits-Gray goes to bed between 7:00 and 8:00. No matter how tired he is or even if we're certain he isn't overly tired, he parties in his crib for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half! He has been sleeping later some mornings but rarely gets a whole 12 hours anymore. We still crack up watching and listening to him on the monitor at night. He still sleeps with nothing in his crib-not one single lovey, blanket, book or stuffed animal because when we've tried putting them in there, the party goes on for hours. We are thrilled that he is so happy in his crib and most nights we just let him play. Every now and then if it's getting really late one of us usually goes in and settles him down.
He's been going down around 1:00 for his nap and rarely plays much at all at that time. He sleeps anywhere from an hour to three hours, but an hour and a half seems to be the norm.

Personality-I've mentioned before about what a strong willed child we have. But at the same time, he is one of the sweetest, most affectionate children that I have ever been around. He initiates hugs and kisses all the time and even kisses animals and characters in his books too. He is almost always very friendly when we're out and about-waving to everyone and saying "hey" and "bye". When he does something he knows he's not supposed to, he has started telling himself "no!", which is hilarious. He hates it when we're mad at him and if he goes to time-out (still rare for the time being) he can't wait to hug and kiss us when it's over. He is actually a very good listener and is obedient most of the time. He no doubt tests us, like any toddler does but so far we've been thrilled with how well he listens...thank you LORD for this and may it please continue!

Gray is tough as nails. He'll hit his head and have a goose egg immediately and doesn't bother to stop and cry for a second about it. It seems like he has a new bump or bruise every day. Rarely are the injuries when we didn't have a close eye on him but we don't feel it's in his best interest to stand over him or be extra cautious. He's a boy and we want him to act like one, and he certainly does! He is completely fearless and will climb and try new things by himself all the time. Timid and careful he is not. At some point a healthy level of fear needs to be established, but for now we'll let him be.

Favorite toys/Interests/Activities-Tractors, trucks, school buses, anything of the sort! He still loves cleaning supplies and if the vacuum is out, you'd think it was Christmas. This morning I was sweeping the kitchen and he stopped what he was doing to "help" me. He also enjoys helping with the laundry. And by helping I mean this...

His most favorite toy right now is a big plastic John Deere dump truck that we got him for his birthday. He pushes that thing around a good majority of the day and has the cutest noises to go with it. He still loves books and I bet we read 10-20 every. single. day. If he's playing independently and brings me a book, I sometimes try to stop what I'm doing and read with him because I never want to discourage it. His favorite place to be is in Mommy or Daddy's lap reading a book. Thankfully he likes a wide variety of them so we aren't reading the same ones 800 times a day. He begs for one more and one more every night and it's so hard to not let him call the shots on that one.
Sophie has actually been playing with Gray more these days and he LOVES it! He teases her with her ball, chases her, tries to kiss her and she licks his face and ears and he laughs hysterically. It is so precious and I'm so happy she is finally giving him the time of day. I think if he only had his dump truck, some books and Sophie he'd be set for life.

Our favorite things about Gray at 18 months-Paul and I would both say that we are so in love with how sweet and affectionate and loving Gray is. And even though calm and laid back are the last ways we'd ever describe him, we love his energetic, curious, adventurous and fearless personality. We can never get enough of him coming up to us to give us a hug or kiss.

Gray won't go back for another well visit until he is two. Want to know something crazy about that? His appointment is scheduled for almost a week after his birthday and they made it an appointment for two because they said there was a good chance the new baby would be needing to come in for a weight check (he/she would definitely be born by that point even if I went a week over my due date). Holy moly, that is so weird for me to think about, but very exciting too!

13 week appointment and Thanksgiving weekend

We kicked off a long Thanksgiving weekend by listening to a sweet little heartbeat. Gray was going to stay with a friend while we went but her house got attacked by the stomach bug so we had to take him with us.

He was actually very well behaved but didn't have a clue about the heart beat. It was still special to us that he was there. The heart beat was a lot lower than last time (176)-a perfect 155 beats per minute, which is exactly where Gray's stayed the entire time. Not just for that reason, but my bets are on a boy. Everything looked good with my check up. I've gained 2 pounds since my first visit at 9 weeks, which was a pleasant surprise with my fast growing bump (I feel like my belly was this size around 18 weeks with Gray). My iron was low which they said explains why I have been so short of breath. I'm more than willing to take an iron supplement in addition to my prenatals if they help me not feel like I've just run a marathon every time I go up the stairs. My doctor and I had a long talk about our trip to Kenya and what I will need to do to prevent blood clots on the plane. I'll go back on Christmas Eve morning but we most likely won't find out the sex until we get back from Kenya. Boy am I lucking out getting to be weighed right BEFORE the holidays! ;)

After my doctor's appointment we headed up the mountain to spend Thanksgiving in Boone with Paul's side of the family. We drove into a beautiful (but very mild for Boone) snow storm. Gray was a fan, needless to say.

We spent the rest of the day and night hanging out with family, eating good food and playing games. I really love Paul's aunts, uncles and cousins and feel blessed to be able to say that. Late Thursday morning we went with Nana and Grandpa to pick out the perfect Christmas tree. This is the third year we've gone to this place and I see us going for many years to come. It's right next to Paul's aunt and uncle's house and it is run by a super nice family on a beautiful lot. All trees are only $40, whether 6 feet or 14. I "gently reminded" Paul of how massive our tree was last year and how much he had to cut off just to get it in the door but he insisted on another big one. It really was the perfect tree though, even Gray thought so!

We enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving feast that afternoon, followed by more talking, laughing and lots of kids playing. Between two of Paul's cousins, there are 13 children. His youngest cousin is pregnant with her first and one is pregnant with number seven. There will be three more babies to add in the mix next year and I honestly look forward to the chaos. They are probably the most well behaved kids I have ever been around and we take lots of "notes" every time we get to be around them. Gray loved playing with so many kids and he was pretty well behaved the majority of the time. We came back Friday night so we'd have all day Saturday to run errands and decorate the tree. After a little trimming, in came this big guy...



Isn't she a beaut?!



Little full, lot of sap!



Our little "helper"

Sunday after church we came home to get ready for Thanksgiving round two with my family. Paul wanted to cook the turkey and I am so glad he did; it might have been the best one yet.

We truly have so much to be thankful for and not just on Thanksgiving, but every day. We did nothing to deserve our many blessings; it's a picture of God's love, grace and mercy and we are most thankful for HIM.

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